Acoustic levitation is useful to support an object without touching it with a solid support that could contaminate it, especially when the object is heated to a temperature at which it is molten. Two techniques have been used to couple an acoustic transducer to the atmosphere within a chamber. One technique is to place a transducer in direct contact with the atmosphere within the chamber, and the other is to place the transducer in contact with a chamber wall to vibrate the wall. When the acoustic transducer is in direct contact with the atmosphere in the chamber, there can be danger of contamination of the atmosphere by the transducer. In addition, a temperature gradient must be established along the chamber if the object is heated to a high temperature, since available transducers cannot withstand high temperatures. Where the transducer directly vibrates a wall of the chamber, there can be a loss of efficiency by the need to transmit acoustic energy through a chamber wall. A system for establishing an acoustic standing wave pattern within a chamber, without the need to place a transducer in contact with the atmosphere of the chamber or to pass the vibrations through a flexible wall of a chamber, could aid in avoiding contamination of the leviated object and enable more intense standing wave patterns to be generated.